


The Flying Centipede

by alexanderotis47



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: F/M, M/M, Panic Attacks, Past Abuse, also title may change lol, circus AU, criticism is definitely welcomed, hidekane, may deviate from canon, may revise, possible IrimixKoma?, rating may go up as story progresses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-11
Updated: 2016-05-23
Packaged: 2018-06-07 17:32:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6816988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexanderotis47/pseuds/alexanderotis47
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ever since he was six, Kaneki Ken dreamed of joining the circus, specifically the Anteiku Circus that visited his town once a year. After pulling a stunt to watch the circus without paying after his mother's death and his aunt's angry outburst one night, he is invited to join the traveling circus by none other than Yoshimura himself! He finds the family he had lost a year ago, and through his time grows closer and closer to his best friend Hide whom is training to be a ground acrobatist because he is afraid of heights. Welcome to the Anteiku Circus, here you will watch our talented performers attempt to dazzle and entertain you by performing extraordinary feats that we recommend you don't try at home! So sit, eat some cotton candy, and prepare to watch the best show in the world! We sincerely hope you enjoy it!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The Flying Centipede 

"Mommy! Mommy I want to join the circus!" A six year old boy jumped up and down as he held tightly to his mother's hand. 

"My, the circus? That's a big dream, what on earth are you going to do Ken?" His mother chuckled as she looked down at the bright gray pools of her son that danced with wonder as they walked away from the Anteiku Circus that had came to their town. 

"I'm gonna be an acrobat and twirl high in the sky!" The boy named Ken said, full of determination.   
Ken's mother chuckled as she ruffled her son's night, black hair,"That's a wonderful dream Ken, but then you'd have to travel far away from mommy, you don't want to do that do you?" 

"I would!?" The child yelped, his eyes going wide before a sheepish smile overtook his features,"W-Well maybe when I'm older then, a-and you can come to! I'll find a way! We can travel the world together and be together forever!" 

"That sounds wonderful Ken, but joining the circus takes a lot of practice..." 

"I'll find a way!" The small boy said with a determined smile,"We're going to travel the world together! You and me! You won't have to work anymore! I'll take care of you!" 

The woman simply chuckled and entertained her son's idea as they both walked back home hand in hand, talking about what places they wanted to see the most. 

~10 years old 

"But I want to go see them! They'll only be in town for tonight! I have to see them, please please please!" Ken, preferring to go by Kaneki, pleaded with his aunt who was glaring daggers down at him. He was practically on his hands and knees. 

"You should've thought of that before you showed your face during my party you little scum, asking for a handout no less! You should've thought of that before you no doubt splurged the money I gave you for the week on those lessons and food! Go! Get out of here! And don't you ever return you spawn of Satan," his aunt screamed as he threw his things at him and slammed the front door shut. 

Kaneki sighed, swallowing back tears. It was a tradition to go see Anteiku's Circus every year...but this year was different...this year was the year his mother had died, leaving him all alone. Ever since that first time she took him to see the circus, thoughts of being up on that stadium, high in the sky, twirling for all to see, never left him. He began to train at home, at the park, any place that he could climb and perform tricks for all to see. He even made his own trapezium at home to practice on! He began to train harder at the gym ever since his mother died. He had to, he had to get out of that hell that was his aunt's house! He had to get away from the abuse!   
As the raven collected his things unceremoniously thrown at him, he was filled with a deep determination. He had to go! He had to watch the show! Even if he had to rush past security, climb up a wall, anything, he had to watch that show! He collected his meager belongings in his arms and ran over to a trash can in search of a plastic bag, anything, to carry them in. His belongings consisted of: a picture of his mother's smiling face, an old, raggedy book his father had that his mother would read to him all the time when he was young, his favorite plush toy as a child which was a centipede, and the newspaper clipping of his mother's obituary, including a white, rose pin, her favorite flower. 

Kaneki sighed in relief when he did manage to find an old, leather bag to stow away his belongings and as he pulled the strap over his shoulder he set off on a run towards the stadium. He had just enough time to get there if he ran as fast as he could. He had to get there! He just had to! 

"Don't worry mom, we're going to finally travel the world together," Kaneki panted as his legs whipped past each other as fast as they ever went in his entire life. Not even the old leather bag could trip him up as he pushed past people on the sidewalk. 

~ 

Even though he was sweaty, even though his legs could barely support his weight, he smiled in relief as he looked up at the building in front of him. I made it, don't worry mom I made it, Kaneki smiled. The smile was short lived as he tried to wrack his mind for any ideas on to how he was going to make it through the ticket holders at the entrance. The raven started by slowly and calmly walking up the entrance. 

"Hello dear, if you want to get in it'll be $15," a ticket person said. 

"O-Oh," Kaneki stuttered as he pretended to check his pockets,"U-Uhm I'm s-sure I put it somewhere-" 

And then suddenly the raven took off as fast as he could. 

"H-Hey! After him! Security!" 

The raven continued to run, pushing past people harshly as he did, his eyes searching for any place he could climb up to escape. Just as someone's hand brushed at his elbow, his eyes caught a ledge high enough that he could jump up to (he has been practicing) and that can get him away from the guards. With a deep breath, the raven's eyes narrowed as he bent his body forward a bit, when he felt the tugging in his stomach, telling him the timing was right, he paused and with all his might, leapt up to the ledge like a cat. He knew that it wouldn't be enough as he turned around, his eyes looking up and brightening when he found a ceiling bar he could grasp, a jump away. 

"All those years of practice are paying of mom, just you wait, we'll be traveling in no time," Kaneki said to his bag as his eyes locked on his target and he leapt, his hands wrapping around the cool metal as he swung his legs gently so he had enough momentum to pull himself up on the bar. 

"What the hell!? Get down from there! Don't make me call your parents!" The security guard said with wide-eyes as he watched the ten year old currently smirking as he pretending to tight-rope down the bar. 

Kaneki chuckled, smiling widely as the people down below, children and adults stared at him, their mouth agape. 

"What seems to be the problem here?" A man's voice asked, adding a bit of calm to the chaotic atmosphere. 

"Mr. Yoshimura!" The security guard exclaimed as two others ran to a stop behind, before pointing up at Kaneki,"It's nothing to be concerned about sir, just some kid deciding to try and get into the show for free." 

"For free?" Yoshimura asked as he looked at the child, now sitting cross-legged above his head,"My my, you are quite high up aren't you? You seem to have a fine talent my boy." 

"Sir, don't encourage him! We were just about to call his parents, you should get ready for the show," a security guard said. 

"Oh, my employees will be fine without me for a few moments," Yoshimura said with a wave of his hand before he looked back up at the child,"Listen my boy, you must come down from there this instant, I want to have a word with you. Don't worry son, you'll be safe, I just want a word. Can you get down my boy?" 

"Of course," Kaneki said with a smirk as he moved his body to the side until he swung upside down, his head looking around him as he searched for something to get him back to the ground safely. He didn't mind showing off his talents in public, it was the only time he felt confident in himself. The older man watched as the child gracefully bent backwards to grab the bar so he could look for a possible way back down behind him. The child's eyes locked on a rope suspended nearby and made his way towards it, but it required him to leap to it. No problem. Kaneki positioned himself with ease and began to swing back and forth to gain momentum to grab the rope. 

"Sir, I don't think this is safe, we should grab a ladder-" 

"No, no, the child's doing just fine, look at him. A natural, even with a bag slung over his shoulder like that," the old man said with a smile as the child flung himself at the rope and easily slid down,"Of course he isn't well with doing tricks, but the boy knows the basics, perfect!" 

Kaneki, hesitantly walked up to the old man, his head bowed as if expecting a scolding. He took a careful look at the security guards eyeing him as he walked up to the old man. 

"My boy, you are a natural! Such talent, perfect! Absolutely perfect! What is your name son?" Yoshimura asked with a friendly smile. 

"K-Kaneki Ken sir..." The child responded timidly. 

"Kaneki Ken. Do you know where your parents are?" The old man asked. 

"M-My parents? M-My mother died this year sir...m-my father...I haven't seen him ever since I was four," Kaneki said, eyeing the floor as sadness clouded his eyes. 

"I'm so sorry to hear that...do you have any guardians that we can contact?" The old man asked as he laid a hand on the child's shoulder. Kaneki's eyes immediately widened and he shied away a few steps immediately,"Oh, I'm sorry..." 

"I-I used to...but," Kaneki trailed off before fixing a determined look on the old man,"But I ran away. They abused me, and they won't have me anymore. I wanted to watch the show since my mother and I came here every year since I was six. I had no money so I decided to watch the show from the ceiling, or hide somewhere. I-I needed to watch it one last time...I'm sorry." 

"Amazing. Where did you learn to climb around like that?" The old man asked. 

"W-Well I practiced at the park and at home. I made my own trapeze ring when I was younger to practice in because I always wanted to be an acrobat, ever since I was six and I went to my first circus," Kaneki had said with a sheepish blush on his face. He knew his dream was dumb. He'd been teased about it by the kids at school, by his aunt, and by some other adults. He knew that only the best of the best could ever hope to join the circus, but luckily he enjoyed books and if he couldn't become an acrobat, he could always teach literature. He used the excuse of being a literature teacher to avoid being made fun of...but there were times he just couldn't help but to admit his real dream. 

"Wonderful, simply wonderful. Yes, you will do. Kaneki, I know this is very sudden, but we are in need of an aerial acrobat. How would you like to make your dreams a reality and to join the Anteiku family? Of course, you'll need some training, it's not all about hanging in the air and propelling yourself from rung to rung," Yoshimura offered. 

"Sir, surely this kid has a family to go back to-" 

"Nonsense, look at him, he has so much potential, and with those clothes and bag you could clearly see they weren't taking care of him," the man protested, before returning his attention to the raven whose eyes were as wide and shiny as when he was six,"So what do you say Kaneki, care to give it a try?" 

"Y-Yes! I-I would be honored sir, t-thank you thank you!" Kaneki yelped, tears brimming his eyes. Yes, finally! I'm going to travel the world! I'll have a family again and all those bullies who laughed at me will see me up in the air doing what they could only imagine and more! Kaneki thought, he entire body shaking with gratitude and joy as he bowed his head. 

"Wonderful, come with me, after the show I'll introduce you to our family. In fact there's even a boy your age training in ground acrobats, he'll be happy to have a boy his age to hang out with," Yoshimura chuckled, while the security guards gawked at him as he led the raven away with a hand on his shoulder,"We'll provide you with all you need, you'll be safe, and you'll still get an education as well. All you have to do is continue to train and try your hardest." 

"Y-Yes, I promise! I'll try my absolute hardest, you won't regret it sir," Kaneki responded with the hugest grin on his face as he wiped away the tears rolling down on his cheeks. They quickly approached behind the scenes of the current performance on stage which the animal trainer. Kaneki looked at the man who had white hair and wore a shiny, red, coat-tailed jacket and a black top hat with a gray suit underneath. 

"That's Yomo, our animal trainer. He doesn't speak much, but he has a knack for animals, he's been a part of our family for awhile," the man explained,"Irimi! I've finally found you protégé! Kaneki, this is Irimi, she's our current aerialist acrobatist. She will be training you." 

A woman with long black hair that was digging into a box, looked up with a smile and dusted off her hands. She looked down at Kaneki, a friendly smile splitting acrossed her face as she walked over to meet the newcomer. She wore a glittering, black leotard. 

"He's so cute," Irimi cooed as she knelt to get a better look at Kaneki, the child blushed as the woman took his hands in hers, her thumbs running over the rough pads of his hands as she looked him over. Then she looked up at Yoshimura a pleased smile gracing her lips,"You sure know how to choose them, he's perfect and he'll be one heck of a lady magnet, I mean just look at that face!" 

Kaneki felt the heat rise in his face at the compliment but his head quickly turned towards the right when he heard a voice pipe up. 

"Heyyyy!" It was a blonde kid with black roots, running up to them and waving, his grin was absolutely blinding. 

"Just the man I wanted to see," Yoshimura chuckled," Kaneki, this is the boy I was telling you about. His name is Hideyoshi Nagachika and he's been here all his life, he's training to be a ground acrobatist." 

"Yeah, just call me Hide though, okay?" The blonde said, his chest puffed out confidently. 

"Oh! It's my turn to go on," Irimi mentioned as she leaned over to pinch Kaneki's cheeks,"We're happy to have you here with us Kaneki, I can't wait to train you!" 

"Good luck Irimi!" Hide yelped as he gave her a double thumbs up when she went out on the stadium. Kaneki waved shyly while his other hand rubbed his cheek. 

"Well Hide, I have to keep track of what's going on out there, do you think you can handle showing Kaneki around?" Yoshimura asked. 

"Yeah! You can count on me manager," Hide said with a mock salute as he grabbed Kaneki's hand and began to tug him along with him. 

"We're going to be the best of friends!" Hide said ecstatically. 

"Careful Shittychika, you might scare the poor kid," a kid said nearby, he had light brown hair and glasses. 

"He's not scared of me!" Hide retorted before he turned to look at Kaneki in concern,"Are you?" 

Kaneki shook his head, an easy smile coming acrossed his face as Hide turned his attention back on the kid,"See I told ya! Anyways Kaneki, this is Nishiki, he helps manage things behind the stage and announces the next act. The manager can't do everything himself after all." 

"Yeah, just stay out of my territory kid," Nishiki said when Kaneki tried to wave at him. 

"You'll get used to him, he's just not friendly around strangers," Hide explained as he continued to drag him along, he pointed to a little girl off in the corner who was arguing with another little boy while a man scratched his head sheepishly as he offered a wave at Hide. 

"The girl's name is Touka, her little brother is Ayato and their dad's name is Arata. He's a contortionist. Ayato likes to play with fire and knives, although The Manager said he's not good enough yet to show off to a crowd of people. Touka is awesome at juggling, but she's not into performing for crowds yet," Hide said as he walked up to the family,"Hi guys, this is Kaneki, he's going to be our new acrobatist!" 

"Hopefully he's not going to be a scaredy cat when it comes to heights like you Hide," Ayato snapped as he sent a knife flying past Kaneki's ear and embedding itself on a bulls eye. Arata leaned over to give his son a light smack on his head,"Ayato it's not nice to make fun of other people's weaknesses. Hide is very good at what he does, there's plenty of acrobatists that perform on the ground. It's very nice to meet you Kaneki." 

"You're just jealous because he's closer at being skilled enough to perform," Touka added in as she gave Kaneki a once over. 

Kaneki gulped, inwardly sweating at having a knife thrown at him before stuttering,"I-It's nice t-to meet you and I'm not afraid of heights." 

Touka walked over to pull the knife out of the target, but before she could, Ayato, who had two knives at the ready sent them flying at his sister who in one lightning fast movement, grabbed them in the air with her hands. She then calmly collected the knife in the target and proceeded to juggle the sharp objects in her hands.   
Kaneki watched, his eyes wide as his gaze darted between their father and the kids. Arata didn't seem too worried about his kids safety, as they've done this many times already. 

"Geez guys, you're such show offs," Hide said with a huge grin,"I thought you were really gonna stab her that time Ayato. Two knives!?" 

"Yeah, we recently started experimenting with it," Ayato responded with a pleased smile as Touka started to experiment balancing the knife on her nose. "It'll be beneficial to you if you learn how to do other skills around here," the girl put in as she attempted putting a second knife on her forehead, which immediately fell off. She sighed in irritation before she threw the knives to her brother who swiped them in the air. 

"Hey kids, didn't you know it's dangerous to play with knives!? What would your father say!?" Someone bellowed over to the side. Kaneki whipped around to come face to face with a painted white face, the raven immediately yelped and skittered behind Hide. He hated clowns with a deep passion. 

"Hey Koma! This is Kaneki. Kaneki, this is Koma, he's our clown," Hide introduced with a smile. 

"Yeah, because being a fool is all he's good at," Arata joked. 

"I'll have you know, I wasn't originally a clown, I was the notorious Devil Ape!" Koma said with a puff of his chest, before holding his hand out to Kaneki,"But in all seriousness, I'm sorry for scaring ya. Not everyone is a fan of clowns, but trust me, I'm one of the nicest ones around. Glad to be working with you." 

"T-Thank you, it's nice to meet you," Kaneki responded as he hesitantly took the man's hand to shake. 

"They're not freaking you out too bad, are they?" Irimi said as she returned, she wrapped an arm around her young protégé,"I swear we're normal, just a little...out of the ordinary. Everyone here has a story, some are more than willing to share while others are holed up tight like a clam shell. Even though some of us fight from time to time, we're more than co-workers, we're family. We're glad to have you a part of it." 

Kaneki chuckled, as he watch Hide attempt to balance a bowling pin on his forehead while Touka looked on in slight annoyance," I love it here...it was even better than what I was expecting." 

"Good, if you need anything, just tell one of us okay? Anything at all," the woman said in a motherly tone before ruffling Kaneki's hair and focusing her attention on Koma,"Hey, intermission will be done soon, you should get in the zone!" 

"In the zone? The Devil Ape is always in the zone!" 

Hide rushed over once the bowling pin dropped from his forehead,"Don't mind Irimi, she's practically the mother of our whole weird family...hey Kaneki you should try and balance this bowling pin on your head!" 

So while the show continued, the four of them (with Arata keeping close watch on them) played together and tried to see who could keep a bowling pin balanced on their head the longest. Of course, Touka was the best out of all of them, but that didn't stop them from trying. Once the show was over, they set to work on helping to put stuff away since they would be traveling to the next city by daybreak. It didn't take as long as Kaneki thought it would and by the time they had packed their things in vans and trailers the four ran off to test their luck on catching fireflies while the adults set to work on preparing dinner. As the four sat down to take a break to look at the stars Hide decided to finally ask the question. 

"So, what made you want to run away from home?" Hide asked, his eyes flashing concern when he saw how Kaneki shied away,"Y-You don't have to say anything, if you don't want to! I don't mind! After all, you've just met me today!" 

"N-No! I-It's okay...I just...I don't know where to begin," Kaneki admitted and looked down for a few moments before he looked back up at the sky,"When I was six, I went to my first circus and since then I always wanted to be up in the air and doing tricks. Every year afterwards, my mother and I would go to the circus, even if we didn't have enough money, she'd always make sure there would be enough to take me here every year. She worked a lot, she had two part-time jobs, and I barely got to hang out with her because of that. Earlier this year, it all became too much for her and she died so my aunt took care of me...or at least did for the first week. For some reason she hated me and became jealous because I had a better school performance than her son, I don't know what I did wrong. She began to forbid me from coming downstairs, and stopped feeding me, she'd only give me money for food, and even then all I could afford was things like rice balls. Then I heard the circus was in town and I tried everything I could to get on my aunt's nice side, but when I asked her for some money to go she got really angry and threw my stuff at me and told me to go away and never come back. I showed my face during her party, that was why she was so angry...I didn't originally plan on running away. All I wanted to do was find a way to watch the show, even if I had to suspend myself from the ceiling to watch it. I must've caused a ruckus because..uhm..." 

"Yoshimura. We call him The Manager though," Touka supplied. 

"Yoshimura," Kaneki said before continuing,"well he came to see why there was a bunch of security running around and yelling. I guess he got impressed at the fact that I managed to crawl my way up the wall and on the ceiling that he offered to take me in...I'm sorry I ramble too much..." 

"No, it's okay. Hey Ken-" 

"Just call me Kaneki." 

"Okay. Well Kaneki, aren't you a little sad to leave your mom here?" 

"Well...yeah a little bit," Kaneki said, one his hands coming up to touch his chin,"But I have a picture of her, and I told her that one day we'd travel the world together. I'd be an amazing acrobatist and she wouldn't have to work anymore, she'd be able to relax for once. She may not be here anymore, but that's not going to stop me from living our dream." 

"Kids! It's time for dinner!" Arata called. 

"Alright!" Hide shouted back as he stood up and helped Kaneki up,"Hey Kaneki...I think what you're doing is awesome. Your mom would be so proud of you. Maybe one day we’ll be partners, which is awesome because we’re already going to be best friends, I can feel it!” 

“T-Thanks Hide… I never had a friend before” Kaneki admitted with a small blush. 

“No way, really!? You’re pulling my leg, who wouldn’t want to be friends with you!?” the blonde exclaimed. 

“Hide!” Arata called again. 

“Yes really, I’m not kidding. We should get going,” the raven said as he led his new friend over to the group. 

“Awesome! I can’t believe it, I get to be your first best friend! You won’t regret it, I promise,” Hide exclaimed giddily while Kaneki giggled at his reaction. When the group was seated, with plastic plates and food Koma paused the talking by bellowing,” Alright guys, I have an announcement to make! You better shut up and listen unless you want the Devil Ape to attack you in your sleep!” 

Irimi rolled her eyes at Koma’s threat but nonetheless sat and listened as Koma waited for everyone to stop talking. 

“Cool. Now, I’m sure all of you already met the newcomer, except maybe Yomo, but Kaneki is going to train to be our new acrobatist! Welcome to the family Kaneki, you’re one of us now! Cheers!” the man said as he raised his cup and took a drink out of it, the group following his motions with comments like “Welcome” or “Nice to have you”. The raven blushed as he raised his own glass and took a sip and nearly choked from laughter at Hide’s exclamation. 

“Yeah!! Finally someone my own age! It’s about time! U-Uhm…no offense Touka.” 

“Whatever…” came from Touka. 

The group continued to chatter and eat but Kaneki ate in silence, he felt an overwhelming urge to cry at how nice everyone was being. He wasn’t used to that kind of attention and appreciation at home, but he didn’t want to bawl like a baby in front of everyone so he tried his best to choke his emotions down. That didn’t stop the white-haired man from noticing though…Yomo…right? Even Hide noticed but he chose to keep quiet about it because he was afraid it was going to trigger a crying fit from his new friend. When they had finished eating, Kaneki was approached by Yomo who towered above his kneeling form and made the other shrink down a bit. 

“He wants to talk to you, don’t worry he’s really nice,” Hide supplied as he took Kaneki’s plate for him and stood up to throw it away, leaving the two alone. 

“H-Hello,” Kaneki greeted weakly as the group dispersed and Yomo sat down acrossed from him. 

“Hello. My name is Yomo. The manager said that you would be sleeping in my RV trailer along with Hide,” the man said bluntly, before standing up,” Come with me, we’re going to get some clothes for you before the store closes.” 

“O-Okay,” the raven responded and got up quickly and dusted himself off, he followed the whitette to a nearby car and nearly screamed girlishly when he saw a tiger in the back seat. 

“Don’t worry, he’s tame,” the whitette responded in a monotone as he opened the driver’s side door. With hesitation, the raven opened the passenger side door and got in, stiffening a bit when the tiger proceeded to sniff him. As they headed off down the road the tiger began to head butt his arm and the raven looked up questioningly at the whitette who had a small smile on his face,” He likes you, he wants you to pet him. His name is Oliver.” 

Kaneki felt a warmth light up in his chest. He wasn’t allowed to have pets as a child, and though he’d pet a few stray cats in his days, nothing could compare with petting an actual tiger! Cautiously he pet the tiger’s head and giggled when the large cat purred in response, the awkward tension quickly dissipated, and Yomo seemed to be warmer towards Kaneki. When they got to the store Yomo led him towards the boys section, and that’s where things got awkward again. Usually his mother bought him his own clothes and he didn’t grow that much this year, so he didn’t exactly learn how to buy clothes yet. When he did get clothes, they didn’t have much money so it was usually the cheapest shirts which also led him to not fit in at school. It wasn’t that he didn’t like the clothes his mother bought him, but he thought it would be neat to wear a cool pair of shoes or a cool shirt with some funky design on it. He didn’t ask for those things though…he knew what would happen if he did. So the raven walked around with the older a bit, picking out a few drab, cheap shirts and slacks. 

The boy was perusing some plain, colored shirts when he felt something fall on his face which caused him to flail a bit and drop the clothes in his hands. He quickly took the item off his face, his eyes going wide at the black shirt with a skull on it. He looked up at Yomo who towered over him in confusion. 

“I’ve noticed how you’ve been looking for the cheapest items here. A few expensive shirts isn’t going to make us go broke,” Yomo stated as he dumped a few more shirts on Kaneki’s head. 

Kaneki felt his heart speed up, for a reason he couldn’t really explain. It’s just that…they were expensive, he looked at the price tags! He couldn’t possibly let them pay for all that, he’d get in trouble, serious trouble,”N-No I-I’m fine I do-don’t need it…” 

“Really it’s fine,” Yomo responded, his eyes flashing in concern when he noticed how nervous Kaneki became. 

“N-No! No no, I-I don’t need it! I’m sorry! I’m fine!” Kaneki yelped his eyes glazed over as he backed away from the man. When Yomo reached out towards him, he flinched and fell to the ground to curl into a ball, his hands covering his head. 

“Ken, Ken!” the man whispered, but forcefully enough as he slowly settled himself by the kid who began to shake violently He cautiously reached a hand out and rubbed the raven's back, ignoring when his body jolted violently upon contact. He had no idea what he did to cause such a reaction, but he knew that whatever happened in this kid's past, it must've been emotionally scarring. It took several minutes for Kaneki to calm down and when he did he became quieter and wouldn't touch anything or would look down at the floor, so Yomo took responsibility to pick out clothes for the younger. When he felt Kaneki's face bury itself into his shirt, the man paused and looked down at the child who was staring apprehensively off in the distance. 

"Ken?" The whitette asked. 

"That guy over there...that's my uncle. I'm s-sorry, p-please...I don't want them to recognize me," a tiny, muffled voice answered back. It wasn't like they'd miss him, but just in case, he didn't want to get recognized. Yomo hummed in understanding before wrapping an arm protectively over the child, he had an idea. Instead of heading to the check -out like they originally planned, the whitette steered them to the hair care aisle where he perused hair dyes. He grabbed various boxes and held them up to the child's face while the smaller stood there nervously. After a few minutes, the man chose a box and pulled the child along with him to the check out, cautious to keep the child from being noticed. They quickly made it through the check-out thanks to Yomo glaring at the woman who ran the cash register and the raven followed the white-haired man back to the car, his shoulders slumped over. Oliver was snoozing in the backseat and woke up when he noticed his master and Kaneki returning. 

When the two got into the car, Yomo turned towards Kaneki, staring at him with a perplexed look. Kaneki shifted uneasily, like the man was trying to see into his soul. He knew he should explain what happened to him in the store...but he didn't know how to explain it and he wasn't quite ready to tell anyone how he felt or what his past really was like. He relaxed when Yomo finally turned his gaze on the road and started the car, Oliver set his big head on Kaneki's shoulder, expecting more pets, which Kaneki gave whole-heartedly. There was just something about petting an animal that seemed so calming, even if it was a big cat that could easily rip his head off whenever it felt like it. Kaneki didn’t even realize how tired he was until he yawned so hard his jaw hurt afterwards. 

Yomo, meanwhile wasn't paying attention and when they arrived back at their makeshift camp and looked over, the raven was already fast asleep with his head on top of Oliver's who looked up at his master with a look that seemed to say "Help me". The man got out of the car and came around to the passenger side, not having the heart to wake the kid up, so instead of waking him up he resorted to piggy backing him to the RV and carrying his old leather bag and a couple plastic bags with his new clothes in with Oliver close at his heels like a dog. 

"Yomo, you're back-What, he's asleep already?" Hide questioned as Oliver came up to greet the blonde. 

"Yes and you should be to. We leave early tomorrow morning and I'll need someone to keep me awake," the man responded as he laid the child down on the queen sized bed which usually Hide tried to pressure Yomo sleeping in, which usually ended in the two sleeping together, but he was more concerned with the kid's comfort over his own. It also allowed him to keep a better eye on the blonde while he drove (You wouldn't believe how much trouble that kid can get in when he was bored). As the man took off the sleeping child's shoes, he couldn't help but wonder what happened at the store, or why Kaneki was triggered into a panic attack when Yomo said he could get a few expensive shirts instead of buying bland, cheap clothes (Hide loved to beg Yomo for the coolest and brightest shirts),"I'm going to talk to The Manager for a bit, when I get back you better be fast asleep." 

Hide groaned but laid down on the bed anyways, and watched as the man lingered near Kaneki, like he was afraid that if he leaved something would happen that would send Kaneki into another fit,"Finnnee party pooper..." 

When the man left Hide couldn't help but glance at the sleeping Kaneki with concern. With some hesitation, the blonde decided to cuddle up next to his friend, I mean obviously they were friends, and friends could cuddle while they slept, right? When he heard Kaneki sigh and felt him push back against his warm body, he relaxed happily (Hide really liked to cuddle) and smiled. He finally had a friend, and he was going to make sure they were the bestest friends in the world!


	2. Flying Centipede Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just more bonding moments I guess, but don't worry it won't be very long until we're hitting off to the main deal. We still have to go through everyone's stories though and Hide's will be next on the list! Possible spoilers to, you have been warned.

When Kaneki awoke the next morning he felt a huge weight on his legs, he glanced down and nearly jumped out of his skin when he realized there was currently a sleeping tiger sprawled acrossed the bed. He would've laid there for a few more minutes to avoid coming face to face with a crabby tiger, but his legs were cramping up and his full bladder made it already difficult to stay still. Slowly he stretched out his legs and body and groaned when his spine popped. The tiger woke up groggily, sending a glare at the child before getting up to lay down on the upper half of the bed, it's tail caressing the boy's face as revenge for waking him up. 

"Good morning sleeping beauty," he heard Hide sing song, as he turned around in the passenger side chair, before he pointed to a nearby door,"The bathroom is on your left." 

Kaneki grumbled something in response before stumbling over to the left side and opening the door to relieve himself. When he returned from the bathroom he was met face to face with Hide who held a bowl of cereal to his face,"Eat it, it's my favorite cereal! I don't share that with just anyone!" 

Kaneki took the bowl gently in his hands, holding it as if it was something very breakable. He felt it was a very high honor to eat the same cereal that Hide ate, and was happy that he was worthy enough in his eyes that he would share it with him. Hide watched him expectantly, waiting him to take a bite of it which Kaneki hesitantly took, his taste buds exploded with sugar! He could see why Hide was always energetic. 

"So? Isn't it awesome!? I mixed like three different cereals together!" The blonde informed. Kaneki nodded, it tasted much better than his usual convenience store breakfasts that consisted of old donuts and bland orange juice. 

"Hide, how much sugar did you have?" Yomo questioned from the driver's chair that was up near the queen sized bed Oliver lounged on. 

"Just a bowl of cereal and I drank a few sips from your coffee cup," the blonde responded as Kaneki wolfed down the bowl of cereal. 

Yomo grumbled in response about not touching his coffee and that that was disgusting as he grabbed the cup and took a sip anyways. Hide giggled, his eyes widening as he turned back around to find an empty bowl held out to him. He looked at the raven who hiccuped, seeing nothing wrong. 

"Dude that was fast! What did you even live on before you came here?" The blonde exclaimed, inwardly squealing at how cute the other's hiccup was, as he went to put the dirty bowl in the sink. 

"Old donuts, rice cakes, you know, things you can buy at a gas station or something." 

"That's no good. We'll have to feed you protein to build up muscle," Yomo responded, and Kaneki is struck with the realization that Yomo seemed more talkative than usual. He looked over to Hide questioningly who grinned and responded,"When he's sleep deprived or drunk he talks a lot. Anyways, open up!" 

The raven had little time to react before a protein shake was shoved in his face. Kaneki yelped allowing some liquid to flow into his mouth, as Hide basically bottle fed him the most weirdest tasting chocolate milk he'd ever drank. The blonde stepped away when the small plastic bottle was empty with a huge grin on his face,"Yeah! Drink one of these a day and exercise and you'll be as buff as Yomo!" 

Kaneki wiped his mouth, feeling a little sick after consuming so much at one time, his body definitely wasn't used to it,"O-Okay..." 

"Alright you guys, this is a pit stop, get up and run around for a bit, and I mostly mean Hide," Yomo responded as he practically got up and shoved the two boys towards the entrance and outside. 

"Yeah! Come on Kaneki!" Hide said, taking Kaneki's hand and running forward. 

"H-Hide, I-I don't think that's a great i-idea," Kaneki groaned, his stomach hurting from all that he ingested in a small span of time. The raven tried to keep up with the blonde who ran up ahead, but found it difficult when his stomach seemed to weigh like a stone and began to lag behind. 

"Yo Kaneki! Dude you have to keep up or you'll never build muscle!" 

"H-Hide I don't f-feel-" Kaneki said, cutting off when his stomach lurched which forced him to double over and spew everything that was in his stomach. 

"Huh-Kaneki!? Oh crap, I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have made you eat so much!" The blonde apologized profusely, catching the attention of Irimi who ran over. 

"Hey, what happened!?" Irimi said as she ran to Kaneki's side, hoping that he wasn't sick because that would ultimately spread to everyone else and they had a show to perform in Las Vegas a couple days from now. They could not afford to get ill! 

"I-I kind of made him eat too much..." Hide said sheepishly as he toed the dirt under his shoes. 

Irimi sighed and shook her head,"I wish you'd think before acting sometimes Hide, that's going to be important in the future. How are you feeling sweetheart?" 

"I-I'm o-okay," Kaneki choked out as he wiped his mouth. He had to keep running, to get stronger, and to help Hide burn off some energy,"L-Let's keep running." 

"Uhm I don't think that's a great idea, besides Yomo said you shouldn't push your body all at once-" 

"I'm fine Hide, come on, I'll follow you, and who knows when we'll get to run around again," Kaneki said with a smile before shoving his friend forward. 

"O-Okay if you're sure...you sure your not mad?" Hide asked. 

"Why would I be mad, come on, I'm going to beat you!" Kaneki sing songed as he continued to run again, leaving Irimi in the dust. 

"Boys be careful and don't go far," Irimi called out but knew they didn't hear her,"Oh those boys, I can already tell they're going to be troublemakers." 

So the two ran around, Kaneki gaining the lead for a little bit but falling back after a minute or so. Still the raven couldn't help but feel free as he ran alongside the blonde who kept careful eye on him, he allowed the sweat to trickle down his face, his shoes kicking up dirt as the wind whipped against his face. He felt free, that is until he felt someone grab his hair and pull him back, he looked over to see Hide's hair was pulled to and both boys looked up to come face to face with Yomo and Irimi. 

"We told you not to go far, it's easy to get lost and taken away from somebody, especially since Kaneki isn't properly disguised yet," Yomo muttered in a monotone that Kaneki thought sounded disappointed and angry. The raven pouted and felt himself grow depressed at making his new father figure and mother figure angry. Irimi relinquished her hold on his hair and instead grabbed him by the shoulder and steered him back towards the RV's while Yomo kept a firm hold on Hide's hair and dragged him back. 

"Oi how come Kaneki's not getting pulled by his hair!?" Hide shouted. 

"It's because you should know better," Yomo responded noticing Kaneki looking down at the ground like a scolded puppy. Kaneki mentally kicked himself, he knew he should've been careful, but he let his imagination wander and didn't notice how far they ran away from everyone. 

"Don't feel bad, just remember not to do it next time, okay sweetheart?" Irimi responded with a small smile as she left his side to get in her RV. Koma meanwhile was standing by the RV with a smirk on his face,"Ah, well if it isn't the two escapees! You should feel thankful that Irimi and Yomo caught up to you, if I had gotten ahold of you, you wouldn't be able to sit down for a week!" 

"Don't mind him, he's just trying to act all tough but Irimi is really scary when she very angry," Hide whispered over to Kaneki. 

"Hey I heard that! Anyways you two better stay quiet and let Yomo sleep, I'm taking over driving for him and if anyone is scary when tired and angry, it's Yomo," Koma responded as he ushers the kids back into the RV. Hide flopped down on the couch with an annoyed groan. 

"Hide, why don't you dye Kaneki's hair, that'll keep you busy for a few hours," Yomo responded as he fished into a nearby grocery sack, producing the box of hair dye formula and tossing it to the younger. 

"Alright! Sweet! I've dyed my hair since forever ago, I promise I won't screw it up! Dude you're going to look so sweet with white-hair!" Hide said with a fist bump as he led Kaneki to the bathroom. 

"W-White hair?" Kaneki questioned with wide eyes. 

"Don't worry man, Yomo is great with hair color and style, you're going to look awesome!" The blonde said as he opened up the box and dragged and nearby stool with him fr Kaneki to sit on while he worked. 

A couple hours later and the job was done and Hide handed Kaneki a mirror to admire himself. His gray eyes wide with awe as he touched his now white as snow hair. He had to admit, it made him look older, and Hide didn't forget to touch up his eyebrows either so they matched. 

"So what do ya think?" The blonde asked excitedly. 

"I-It looks...amazing," Kaneki breathed out in awe. He couldn't stop touching it. 

"Glad you like it! Now can you...kind of get out of here and take the stool with you, I need to use the bathroom," the blonde said sheepishly as he pushed the now whitette out of the bathroom. 

"Hey Kaneki, come over here for a second and hold this map-Holy shit is it just me or do you look different? New t-shirt? Or maybe you brushed your hair?" Koma joked as he looked behind him and saw the child who looked alarmed,"U-Uhm...M-Mr. Koma shouldn't you be watching the road?" 

"It's on cruise control, it's all good, now come over here, don't be so shy." 

The whitette slunk over cautiously to avoid waking up Yomo who was on the master bed and Oliver who was snoozing right beside him. He sat in the passenger side of the RV his eyes locking on the road and the surroundings. He wondered how far from his home town he actually was right now... 

"So you've ever been to Las Vegas?" Koma asked as he shoved a map at the kid and chuckled when he nearly dropped it, his doe, gray eyes staring back at him as he shook his head. 

"I've never traveled far from my town. W-What's it like?" 

"Oh man it's like a huge party, all the girls you could ever want dressed in skimpy clothes. There are tons of casinos and Las Vegas is really beautiful in the night with all the neon lights on. Did I mention the girls, maybe they'd even do a nice lap dance for a charming lad like y-GAH!" Koma responded as some round thing was thrown at him harshly. 

"Don't be filling his head up with shit like that, he's too young to know that stuff," Yomo grumbled,"You two are to not leave our sights when we get there, at all, I mean it. Do I make myself clear? I'll admit it's pretty at night but the people there are scummy and would do unimaginable things with a couple of boys like you. You get that Hide!?" 

"Yeah yeah, I got it. No running around, no talking to strangers and don't drink anything someone gives you unless it's one of you guys." 

"I mean it, you are not allowed to go anywhere without one of us with you," the man responded strictly as he shot a glare at Hide. Oliver growled in response, as if agreeing with Yomo before laying his huge head on his master's side. 

"I get it, it's nothing new, like when we're going to New York City or Las Angeles," Hide mumbled as he walked over to Kaneki and scooted in the chair he was in and positioned the other on his lap who blushed crazily. The three of them made small talk while Yomo slept for an hour or so before Kaneki felt his eyes droop when he stared at the road too long. 

"Hey don't be falling asleep! I barely got to know you yet kid, here take some coffee," Koma said as he shoved a thermos at Kaneki whose nose wrinkled in disgust. "Don't knock it until you try it, Yoshimura taught us how to make the best coffee ever, try it," Hide encouraged as Kaneki twisted off the cap and poured a little inside. The younger whitette glanced back at his friend who gave him the thumbs up to which Kaneki looked back down at the dark elixir before taking a small tentative sip. He smacked his lips, making a weird face as the bitterness slid down his throat, but for some reason he found it to be very addicting and took more. 

"Another point to Yoshimura, the kid likes it," Koma cheered,"Now now, don't hog all of it, little boys like you can't have too much caffeine or you'll end up like Hide over there." 

"Excuse me!? I'm perfectly fine," Hide said in mock hurt, noticing how the little bit of coffee seemed to wake up Kaneki quite a bit. 

It was several hours before they stopped again at an eat in restaurant, both children ended up falling asleep with or without the aid of coffee due to Koma rambling on and on about only God knows what. When Kaneki woke up it was dusk and Yomo was up to drive through the night. Though many would agree to go to a fast food restaurant to get food, they knew they had to move around a bit and let the kids burn up excess energy before bed so they decided a sit in restaurant would be better. Kaneki wasn't used to actually eating at a restaurant, or even eating fast food so he was a little out of his element but it was in a nice way. He ordered a simple burger and fries, which Hide protested to as he thought he should try new things, but he was quickly silenced by his own food arriving. 

A few minutes into their meal Irimi reached over with a napkin close to Kaneki's face as he had gotten ketchup on the corner of his mouth, to which the whitette flinched harshly at having his face touched. 

"Oops sorry about that sweetheart, you just had something at the corner of your mouth, I was going to get that for you," Irimi responded apologetically but also with concern. 

"He's ten Irimi, he can wipe his own mouth," Yomo came to his aid, although he did take note on his harsh flinch and how he seemed to shy away and blush at his reaction as well as how messy he was being. 

"I know but I can't help it. I've always wanted to have children," Irimi sighed wistfully. 

Kaneki continued his meal in quiet, feeling bad with how he reacted. It wasn't like Irimi was going to hit him or something, why'd he have to react like that!? It made the rest of the meal feel awkward, at least for Ken, everyone else seemed to be having a great time. After eating, they returned to the RV and as Kaneki laid down next to Hide who was already out like a light, he pet Oliver's massive head and tried to think of other things. He wondered what other sights he would see, if his aunt even wondered where he was at and imagined flying around a lit stadium, twisting and turning his body, the feeling of falling through the air and the adrenaline rush it provided. 

Kaneki was pulled from his thoughts when Oliver growled and changed positions by squeezing up between Hide and Kaneki so his head rested on the whitette. The child looked over at Hide, surprised that he hadn't woken up and instead threw a leg and arm over the feline and continued sleeping, his face pressed into his fur. The whitette resisted the urge to giggle when he felt Oliver rub his head on his and used one of his paws to wrap around him like he was a miniature teddy bear. With the aid of the tiger's body heat and the lights passing over Yomo's face in the driver's seat, Kaneki succumbed to unconsciousness. 

~ 

When they arrived at their destination at Las Vegas it was in the afternoon and Irimi promised Kaneki his first lesson as the rest of the crew setted up for their show. It was during downtimes before or after the show that Irimi gave the boys lessons and while they were traveling Arata or Yoshimura would tutor the kids so they didn't fall behind in getting an education. For Kaneki's first lesson, Irimi had just wanted to teach him some basic tricks he could do with the trapeze and aerial silks, she also wanted to see where he was at on strength, balance, and flexibility among many other things. Even before beginning the lesson Irimi had both boys stretch, which Hide was very good at, but Kaneki had difficulty in because some stretches hurt like crazy, plus he wasn't as flexible as Hide was but Irimi encouraged that over time he'd get more flexible. 

"So, first things first, we'll need to build trust with each other, it's very important that you trust the person catching you so I want you to jump towards me and I'm going to catch you a few times and I want you to turn around and grab the trapeze and swing back to the platform," Irimi responded as she swung on the aerial cradle to build momentum before tilting back so she was upside down, her hands outstretched the catch Kaneki when he let go of the trapeze. A net was placed underneath in case either of them fell and Kaneki looked over at Hide who stared up at them with an uneasy smile on his face. With a deep breath Kaneki jumped and launched himself at Irimi who caught his hands with an approving smile. The two swung a couple of times before Irimi launched him back at the trapeze to repeat the cycle again. Around the fourth time repeating the cycle, Kaneki's hand slipped and he fell onto the net, while Irimi called from her spot if he was alright, Hide ran over, fear etched on his face. 

"Dude, are you alright!?" 

Kaneki giggled and brushed himself off,"Yeah Hide I'm fine-" 

"A-Are you sure, you know you can be a ground acrobatist like me-" 

"Hide I'm fine, it was just a small fall," Kaneki responded with an endearing smile at Hide's worry, but the blonde couldn't help it. Heights were scary and he knew that a fall from that height with a poor landing could really injure someone...or kill someone. He should know that more than anyone with his parents... 

"Alright, let's get you familiarized with the aerial silk and hoop and we'll call it quits for today," the woman called out as she turned to the aerial silk that was suspended for tonight's show. As Irimi was showing Kaneki how to climb up the low-stretch silk, and wrap it around his body to do a simple fall, nothing too complicated yet, Hide couldn't help but feel a bit angry. He knew the more the dangerous, the bigger the thrill, but it bugged him how Kaneki seemed oblivious to it all! Wasn't he afraid of falling!? Wasn't he afraid of getting injured!? When Kaneki attempted the fall on the silk, Hide felt his body jolt in fear, that fear soon broiled down to anger when the whitette laughed, not at all scared that he could've actually had fallen or twisted his ankle in the fabric. 

Hide sighed in frustration, finding that watching Kaneki suspended up in the air was going to drive him crazy and called out some excuse that he was going to get a drink of water or check if anyone needed help with something. 

"Hey, do you think Hide's okay? He didn't come back yet..." Kaneki questioned several moments later when the woman and himself were suspended up on the aerial hoop. 

"He'll be okay, it just freaks him out to watch these things," Irimi explained. 

"Why is he afraid of heights?" Kaneki asked,"Did something bad happen to him?" 

"Like I said, everyone here has a story. It's none of my business to tell you, but I'm sure if you asked him, maybe he'd tell you. Just don't do it when he's in a good mood okay? That kid has been through the ringer a few times, no pun intended," the woman responded. 

"Okay...w-well if you don't mind my asking...h-how did you get here?" Kaneki asked. 

"How did I get here? Well, I don't mind telling you, but you have to tell me what happened before you got here at payment. Sound like a deal? Besides, we have to be able to trust each other, right?" The woman asked holding out her hand. 

The younger bit his lip, weighing the pros and cons in his head before hesitantly shaking her hand,"O-Okay it's a deal." 

"Alright! I'll go first," Kaya chirped," It started back when I ran a gang known as the Black Dobers back in New York city. We were notorious and robbed banks as well as getting into fights with some other gangs that stirred up trouble, in fact one of these gangs was called the Apes and that was the gang Koma ran. We clashed a lot back in those days, believe or not. Well, one day my gang and I were running the alleyways after stealing twenty kilos of cocaine-hey, don't give me that look, I wasn't really into that stuff, only my gang members. Anyways we were running back to our new headquarters and we ran into Koma's gang who were still angry at us for kicking their butts last time they messed with us when they were trying to steal from our old headquarters. So you can probably guess a huge fight broke out between us and as I raised my pistol to Koma's forehead-" 

"Don't you mean when I raised mine to yours Kaya?" Koma called out with a joking smirk as he set out a platform. 

"That's not what happened!" Irimi snapped playfully back,"But as I was saying...Yoshimura showed up. He observed our fighting, and Koma's stupid little quips during the fight that he offered us a life where we wouldn't have to worry about food or where we were going to sleep for the night. He gave us a few days to think it over, and though I really loved my gang...I don't know, I guess I just felt it was the right way to go. I was already a wanted criminal by the city of New York and Yoshimura promised to make that all disappear..." 

"Yeah, I don't know how he did it...and it took quite awhile for us to actually get along, but I'd say it was worth it in the end," Koma admitted, scratching the back of his head with a sheepish smile. 

"Aww, so you like me after all, is that what you're saying Koma," Irimi responded with a smirk as she hung upside down from the hoop, drawing out Koma's name on purpose. 

"Hey, you know what they say, opposites attract," Koma called back as he exited the stadium. 

Irimi quickly resumed a sitting position by Kaneki,"Alright, so I spilled my story, what's yours and don't lie because I'll be able to tell. We have to trust each other, right...?" 

Kaneki stiffened and looked down at the ground, biting his lip. A promise was a promise...but where should he begin? "U-Uhm...well...it actually..well I don't remember when it started-" 

The whitette managed to stammer through his story, but he wouldn't meet Irimi's eyes, he didn't tell her every single detail, just what his aunt did and how his mom had worked two jobs to support his aunt's mooching and the two of them...but he did leave out what happened at night, behind closed doors with his mother. When Kaneki talked of his mother, the woman noted how his hands curled up into fists. She didn't need to know that. His mom was a good person, she was his pride, she did no wrong. It wasn't like he was lying right? He was giving her most of the story, just not all of it. 

"Oh...I'm sorry that must've been terrible...but you have a family now. A really wacky, obnoxious family that loves you," the woman responded. She knew he wasn't telling her everything, but she got an idea of what happened to him that made him flinch that time at the restaurant. She was satisfied, for now,"Come on, we better help them set up, after the show I'll show you a couple more tricks you can do on the trapeze." 

Kaneki smiled gratefully at the change of subject, but he felt guilt weigh heavy in his stomach as he followed Irimi to where the others are. 

"Kaneki!" Hide beamed,"Dude help me carry this!" 

The whitette smiled at his friend, happy that whatever seemed to be bothering him before seemed to pass. 

~ 

"Kanekiii come on, I don't want to watch this, let's hang out with Touka and Ayato," Hide complained as he tried to drag his friend away from the entrance into the stadium, but Kaneki became stubborn. He wanted to watch Irimi and everything she did in hopes he'd not only figure out what the audience was into but also how she performed those tricks. 

"Hide, you can hang out with Touka and Ayato yourself, I want to watch Irimi and see if I can learn anything," the whitette responded, with mild irritation. 

"W-Well there's plenty of other times you can watch her. Come on Kanekiiii" 

"There's plenty of other times I can hang out with you, Ayato and Touka to." 

Hide frowned and sighed in frustration,"Kaneki you're not going to learn anything just by watching her so come on." 

"Hide I'm staying here" Kaneki responded as he looked up at the blonde sternly. 

The blonde frowned even further and glared at the woman who was just beginning to perform. It was all her fault that Kaneki wanted to be up in the air! Why couldn't Kaneki just understand that this wasn't for him!? It was dangerous, and Hide didn't want to lose his best friend...not like them...no never like them! He can't lose another person like that... 

But Hide let his emotions get the best of him, and he stamped his foot on the ground,"W-Well fine! Then I guess we're not friends anymore, you like Irimi so much, be best friends with her! If you want to die so much then go ahead and do whatever she's doing, I don't care!" 

Kaneki looked up at Hide, hurt and alarm etched acrossed his face as he watched as the blonde stalk off and brush past Yomo who looked from one to the other. Kaneki felt his face heat up and he quickly looked away, feeling the weight in his stomach grow heavier. He partially lied to Irimi, to his friend Hide, and now Hide was angry at him, and basically told him he didn't care if he died. 

"Kaneki, he didn't mean it, are you okay?" The older whitette asked. He already knew Kaneki was triggered by random things, or at least things that he hadn't necessarily identified yet. He didn't know Kaneki's full back story, and he couldn't help but feel a bit concerned for the kid. He also wanted to get this conflict solved since he had to deal with them back at the RV and tension was not good for Oliver or himself. 

"I'm fine. I understand," Kaneki said with a forced smile as his hand touched his chin. 

Yomo stared at him for a few moments, as if trying to see through his lie before backing off and busying himself with hunting down Hide to apologize to Kaneki. 

Kaneki let his smile slip from his face and felt himself physically deflate. Maybe it would be better if he just left...he made his new best friend mad at him and it seemed like he was being a burden to other people. He saw how they stared at him, they stared at him with pity, or at least that was how he saw it. The whitette sighed and got up from his place on the floor and decided to trudge off to the RV, the rest of the group was too busy making sure the show ran smoothly so they didn't notice him passing by. When he got to the group of trailers and RVs he had tears and snot running down his face but when he got to Yomo's RV it was locked, which made him cry harder. 

"Oh, look at the crying baby...isn't he adorable?" Came a drunken drawl. 

Kaneki looked over to his left with wide eyes. There was a woman who was smoking a cigar and had a beer bottle in her hand, she was flanked by two other women who cooed in Kaneki's direction. 

"U-Uhm...please don’t hurt me..." Kaneki whispered as he backed away from the three ladies that grew closer. 

"Ohhhh he thinks we're going to hurt him," another lady cooed. 

"Come here, let us make you feel better." 

"I-I...I-I don't know you," Kaneki said as he back up further, and whimpered,"Please leave me alone." 

"You could make a great male stripper, look how cute he is, I heard shotas are in these days," the leader crowed, before she lurched forward,"Come here sweetheart!" 

"No!" Kaneki screamed before he ran off back to the entrance, but one of the ladies lurched over, blocking the entrance. 

"Come here you little bastard," the leader rasped as she raised the beer bottle above her head, aiming straight at Kaneki. The whitette moved his arm up, taking the brunt of the hit, the beer bottle shattering with pieces stabbing into his arm and flying onto his clothes, hair and cutting up his face. Kaneki yelped in pain and stared down at his arm, his eyes widening at the glass pieces that stuck up out of it. 

"Get him girls!" 

"Kaneki!? Oh my god, get away from him!" A woman's voice shouted as glittering black flashed in the boy's peripheral vision. Irimi.... 

The woman stood in front of Kaneki, glaring down the three women who didn't seem to understand what was going on in their drunken state,"You better take your dying asses away from here and go to whatever fucked up place you came from. Don't make me bring my friends, I may be an acrobat but that doesn't mean I don't know how to bust a few heads, now move!" 

The leader growled under her breath as she stared back at Kaneki, but after a second thought, realized the kid wasn't worth fighting for and took her trio away. 

Irimi spun back around, her eyes dark and flashing, and an urge to run filled Kaneki but was quickly squashed when the woman grabbed his uninjured, upper arm and pulled him off over to her RV. She sat him down on a stool and went off to rummage around in her bathroom for a first aid kit. When she returned and set the box down with a loud thud, ignoring the flinch Kaneki made the whitette squeaked out,"S-Sorry." 

The woman looked at him, her eyes steeled over as she grabbed his arm and sprayed disinfectant on his arm before setting to work,"Look away." 

Kaneki hissed but did as he was told, resisting the urge to cry again as he felt her pull the glass out of his arm. It took a half an hour until she was done, making sure all the glass was out, before she spoke to him. 

"Don't you ever do that again. Do you hear me? You will stay near us, upset or not, especially when we are performing," Irimi said her voice breaking, her glassy eyes meeting Kaneki's,"Do you understand?" 

The whitette, slowly met her eyes, giving her a small nod, glass falling to the floor. He felt tears begin to streak down his face once again because he knew she was on the verge of tears just by looking at him. 

"Close your eyes," the woman commanded. When Kaneki did, the woman shook out his hair carefully to get the glass out of his hair, but not without Kaneki flinching back out of instinct. He felt her shake out his clothes to shake off any of the remaining glass before taking his chin between her thumb and forefinger to examine his face. The whitette kept his eyes closed tightly, although his bottom lip was quivering and tears leaked through his eyes. 

"What was your mom like?" The woman asked. 

"S-She worked two jobs-" 

"No, I mean what did she do to you. Don't lie to me, trust me I will know. You owe me at least that for making me worry." 

Kaneki lowered his head feeling his bottom lip quiver harder, but Irimi showed no mercy. 

"S-She really w-wasn't that bad. Only when I asked her for something...o-or at night when she was tired from working," Kaneki choked out, his fists clenching,"W-We didn't h-have much money...a-and my aunt didn't help...s-so I'd try not to ask her for things. It was better to sit in my f-father's office and r-read while s-she worked. W-When she came home, I'd go straight to bed...b-but s-sometimes I-I would asked f-for things like things I needed for school...o-or if she'd at least pay attention to m-me sometimes and then she went off and died! Because of my stupid, greedy aunt! I hate her...sh-she should've lived for m-me...I hate them both..." 

The child shook violently as he tried to repress the resentment, the sadness, and anger bubbling up inside him. No...he loved his mother. She provided for him and fed him and kept him clothed...he couldn't hate her, but why couldn't he live for him! Why couldn't she pay attention to him!? Even a little bit! He saw how the other moms treated their children, why couldn't she treat him that way to!? 

"Shhh it's okay..." The woman said as she drew him nearer and rocked him against her body. 

"It's my fault..." Kaneki sobbed. 

"It's not your fault baby, you didn't deserve that," Irimi soothed. 

"W-Why aren't you b-beating me?" 

"Mothers don't beat their children like that, yes you made me angry and worried and you made everyone else worried. I should probably whoop you for disobeying us, but you had glass in your arm and I thought that was punishment enough. If you need something, anything, tell one of us, okay? We are the adults, we are here to provide for you, to train you and to teach you. We are your family. If you screw up, we'll let you know, but that doesn't mean we won't stop loving you," she stated sternly before kissing the child on his forehead. 

"But Hide doesn't like me anymore..." Kaneki sniffled. 

"Of course he likes you! He's just afraid that you'll hurt yourself being up there with me. Sometimes people react with anger when they're afraid of something, but if you want to continue doing it, then Hide just needs to learn to deal with it somehow. You should do what you want to do and it's not like I'm going to let you up there on your lonesome with no training whatsoever. I'll make sure you're ready." 

"O-Okay..." Kaneki mumbled as he looked out the window, they were going to be staying here another night or two and it looked like the group was returning from another perfect show. 

"I should go find Hide..." Kaneki said, beginning to slide off his seat when the woman stopped him. 

"Hold up, your face is a mess," she said as she wet a wash cloth and attacked his face with it much to the other's displeasure. 

"Jeez, you're such a mom, why don't you have any kids yet?" Kaneki grumbled as his face was cleaned. 

"I can't have kids, I'm infertile, but that's okay because I have you boys to keep to me on my toes and little Touka and Ayato to look after for their daddy," was her response. 

"Oh...I'm sorry..." 

"Don't be, I know I can't replace your mom, just like I can't replace Hide's but that won't stop me from being 'such a mom' to a couple of trouble makers like you. You kids need a mom figure with all these men running around," she chuckled before pressing a kiss to his forehead,"Alright you're free to go, but if you need to talk to me or anything, I'm here!" 

"O-Okay.." Kaneki stuttered with a small blush as he walked out of her RV. He hadn't even made it to Yomo's RV before a certain blonde attacked him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So once again, if you have any criticisms please let me know. I have been researching a bit more on circuses and tricks acrobats use so I'm not pulling something random out of my butt. Hope you enjoyed it!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning sad stuff ahead! We get to hear Hide's story to!

"Kanekiiii! Dude I was so worried! I didn't mean what I said-w-well I mean...u-uhm...well..." Hide stuttered as he relinquished his hold on the whitette and rubbed the back of his neck,"I didn't mean to...explode in your face like that...but I have a reason. I'm sorry for yelling at you and I understand if you don't ever want to be friends again-" 

Kaneki cut him off with a hug,"It's okay Hide." 

"No it's not! You deserve an explanation...look let's go inside the RV, I mean if that's okay with you..." 

"Of course," Kaneki said with a smile, which turned nervous when he caught Touka glaring and stomping up to him. He yelped when the small girl ran up to him and kicked him hard in the shin, Ayato ran after his sister but hung back and instead gave the whitette the nastiest glare as Kaneki hopped around, holding his shin. 

"Baka-neki don't do that again or I'll do more than kick your shin," Touka squeaked, her little fists balled up. Even though Kaneki was older than her, he couldn't help but shrink away in fear and nod. 

"Yeah baka-neki! And I'll shove a worm down your shirt!" The boy declared. 

"No you won't you're afraid of bugs!" Touka fired back. 

"N-No I'm not," the tinier said as pink dusted his cheeks,"W-Well whatever, just don't do that again we were worried about you. I wasn't but she was!" 

"Was not!" 

"Was to!" 

"Touka, Ayato," their father chuckled nervously,"Look, we have a big day tomorrow, I'm sure Kaneki is tired..." 

"Yes daddy" the siblings responded as they walked off back to their father, Ayato turned around and gave Kaneki a stern look though as he walked off. 

"Oh yeah, I forgot to let Touka get a crack at you first," Hide smiled sheepishly before he helped a limping Kaneki into the RV and helped him sit down on the sofa before sitting next to him. 

"So where to begin..." Hide sighed as he stared at his hands a soft smile on his lips,"...You know I used to train to be an aerialist acrobatist, with my parents. They were a part of this circus even before I was born, even before Koma and Irimi came, but not before Yomo joined. They were both acrobats, both ground and aerial, they were really good. When I was three they began to train me on our down time, that was back when nobody really knew us. When I was four we were performing in a city in South Dakota, my mom was performing and everything was going so well. She looked fantastic up on the aerial silk, my father was below her, they loved to perform together. They were both so graceful up there, I don't know if you noticed how dangerous aerial silks are, but it is the most complicated of all acrobatic acts, you need to be very strong, one wrong move can send you falling. I don't know quite what went wrong, maybe she lost her footing, I was too far away to tell, but one moment she was up there and the next she was falling. She fell onto my father, who lost his grip and fell along with her. He landed on top of her, and even with all the music and lights, I swear to this day I heard a snap from where I was..." 

Hide stayed silent for a few moments, his eyes closed as if he was seeing the scene play out on the backs of his eyes once again. Taking a deep breath he continued, his voice shaking," My mother was said to have died on impact. My father was in critical condition and had to be rushed to the hospital. We ended the show, gave refunds, and Yomo drove me behind the ambulance. I was too in shock to actually register what happened, and since I was four I couldn't quite wrap my head around it all. My father's skull was fractured and he had a bad brain bleed, he was on life support. A few days later, he died. Their funerals were held together, and they were buried in California by the ocean side. Irimi took over my training, but during one of our down times, she tried to get me to climb the ladder up to the trapeze. I did, and she held her arms out to catch me b-but I couldn't do it. I froze up, I just freaked out...she had to come up to get me because I was afraid of getting down by the ladder. So, I train in ground acrobatics now, and I guess I got really freaked out when I saw you in the air, especially the aerial silk. I got angry at you because you seemed so care free up there, like you didn't care about the risks and that's what made me so angry. I know I can't stop you from going up there...just...just be careful, just be very careful, I don't want to lose my only friend to..." 

"Hide...I'm sorry, that sounds...absolutely horrible..." Kaneki responded, his hands coming up to encircle the other who wouldn't look him in the eye. Hide brushed him off and got up to walk over to the master bed,"I'm tired, I'm going to go to bed..." 

"Okay..." Kaneki responded, a little hurt, but he understood how exhausting it was to recount horrific events like that. 

The door then opened to let Oliver in who first attacked Kaneki in a hug, his huge paws crushing the whitette's insides before the tiger moved onto Hide who was curled up in a ball in bed. Yomo entered behind the tiger, going over to the coffee pot on the counter to pour himself a cup. Kaneki looked away and down at the floor guiltily for what he did before. 

"I'm sorry..." The whitette practically whispered, flinching when a large hand came to rest on his head. He opened his eyes again when his hair was ruffled, he looked up to stare straight up into the man's darker gray eyes. 

"Just please...don't do that again," the man said sternly, his gray eyes boring into Ken's intensely that the younger had to look away and mutter a small okay. The man looked over to where Hide laid on the bed, Oliver sniffing at him and a small hand coming up to pet the large feline head, befre coming back to rest on Kaneki,"You should go to bed..." 

"Kay..." The younger said as he trudged over to where Hide laid. The blonde's eyes were wet and shiny with tears,"I'm sorry Hide you didn't have to say anything-" 

"Yeah I did, I reacted badly, you needed an explanation," the blonde said with a small, sad smile as the whitette climbed and wriggled himself under the sheets so he was face to face with the blonde. 

"B-But...I lied a-a little bit on my story, I don't deserve-" 

"That's okay man, I knew, and you don't have to tell me yet if you don't want to," the blonde responded, as he moved closer to Kaneki who couldn't meet his eyes,"Besides, I think there's been enough sadness today. Is that okay?" 

"Y-Yeah...okay," the whitette replied softly with a smile, happy that he wasn't angry with him. Gray pools stared at shiny amber for a few moments before Hide yawned, causing Kaneki to also yawn,"H-Hey Kaneki?" 

"Yeah Hide?" 

"Are we still friends?" 

"Of course Hide." 

Hide grinned happily,"Good. I thought I would have to chase you down and tackle you to force you to be friends with me again." 

"Doesn't Oliver do that enough?" 

"Boys, go to bed," Yomo's voice broke in. 

"Okay. Sorry Yomo," the two boys said in unison, deciding not to push their luck and instead stared at each other in silence, listening to the sounds of their breathing that began to synchronize with each others. As time moved on, Kaneki felt his eyes grow heavy until he could no longer take it and closed them. He could hear Hide softly giggle at Kaneki's defeat, and whisper a soft,"G'night Kaneki." 

~2 years later 

It's been a couple years since Kaneki joined the circus and he grew closer to Hide with every month that passed. He's traveled to so many cities already, and returned back to his town a couple times to visit his mother's grave. Nothing more. As far as he was concerned, his aunt did make a huge deal of his disappearance, at least for attention. That hype quickly died off after several months when he showed no signs of returning, it wasn't like he existed much in this town after all. He's even traveled across country which was a totally different experience for him. They haven't done much traveling outside of the U.S. yet, but that didn't stop Kaneki from pressing his face against the airplane windows or gush to Hide who had been through this a million times. The blonde usually just laughed at Kaneki's reactions or stared at him in boredom. 

But like everyone else's lives, no one can escape tragedy, Kaneki knew this too much. It happened on a fairly normal day, they were set to perform for a small town and everyone was pumped up and ready. Kaneki and Hide had already practiced with Irimi and were settling down to do homework together and that's when Irimi busted into their RV. 

"Boys, come here, drop what you're doing right now, I have to talk to you," the woman said, her eyes wide and sad. 

"Irimi what's wrong?" Hide questioned. 

"It's Oliver, he's been poisoned, some idiot must've came by here and..." Irimi started and sighed before continuing,"I told Yomo he shouldn't let him wander like that, even if it isn't far from us, he puts too much trust in his animals, damn him he's a fool...." 

"P-Poisoned, is he going to be alright!?" Kaneki asked. 

Irimi sighed again, her eyes brimming with tears,"N-No...he's in very bad condition...there's nothing we can do...look sometimes things like this happen, people are cruel and this town has been having issues with having their pets poisoned. We should've never came here..." 

"B-But..." Hide started, his own eyes filling with tears. He's known that stupid, adorable feline since he was born. He was like what others considered a pet dog! He couldn't die over some stupid idiot poisoning him. 

"Isn't there something..." Kaneki sobbed," L-Like can we find the guy who did it...?" 

"No we can't," Yomo said his voice rough and his eyes dark, he carried Oliver in his arms and set him on the sofa who was breathing hard,"If I knew the bastard I would definitely strangle him with my own two hands." 

Kaneki and Hide looked towards each other and shrunk back, they'd never heard Yomo sound so dark and so violent. Sure there was times he'd get mad at the two of them and there was a time where he was mad enough at Hide to actually yell at him, which Kaneki had witnessed, but never to this extent. They peered over Yomo's shoulders to see Oliver clearer who was gagging and his nose was bleeding. None of them had the courage to sit beside Yomo who was closer to him than anyone else but Irimi decided to and pet the feline's large head as silent tears streamed down her face. Yomo only stared ahead, his eyes dark stones. 

"Don't do anything stupid," Irimi said after several moments before squeezing his hand and leaving. Hide's face was downcast, but Kaneki could see he was crying, droplets staining the carpet underneath him. The woman leaned over to kiss each boy on the forehead. Over the course of a few hours, each member of the circus came in to sit with Yomo and pay their respects to the feline, even Yoshimura who seemed always busy, everyone did, all but Kaneki and Hide. 

"Man, I'm sorry, this sucks," Nishiki said, a little misty eyed," I'm going around town to see if I can find any leads, we're going to make someone pay, one way or another. There was no reason for them to come close to our territory like that..." 

Yomo nodded solemnly and the two sat in silence for quite a long while before Nishiki left as well. Oliver's breathing was still labored and it seemed he was beginning to whimper as his body slowly shut down. Sometimes it seemed like his body would shake and twitch on it's own. It was a scene that was extremely painful for Kaneki, and still would be for a long time, but the sick part was that he couldn't turn away. 

"Boys. You can come up here. He was as much a part of your lives as anyone else's," the man said, the darkness no longer there. It was replaced by a deep sorrow, and it stabbed into Kaneki's chest like a hot knife. He couldn't help it when his body began to shake by trying to suppress his sobs. Hide was the first to make a move and slowly crawled up so he knelt by Yomo's side, a hand caressing the tiger's paw, feeling tears roll down his face when he realized how sick the animal looked. After a few minutes of trying to battle back his own emotions, Kaneki gave in and crawled towards Yomo's other side, his sobs turning loud and painful. 

"W-Why are people c-cruel?" Hide stammered out, trying to fight back his own sobs when he saw Kaneki completely break down. 

"I don't know...there are some very sick people out there. Sometimes they enjoy seeing innocent people and animals suffer before their eyes. I'd like to think that the reason why there are cruel people, is because without cruel people, we would not know what good was. We wouldn't be strong enough to make it through the rest of our lives without them. We can let them shape us, we can sink to their ways, or we can be strong enough to continue on the way we are," Yomo explained, each hand coming up to rest on either boy's head. This made Kaneki cry harder, while Hide just began to break down and leaned up against Yomo. 

"I-I-I d-d-don't wan' h-him t-to die," Hide sobbed out,"H-He d-d-didn't do a-anything w-wrong." 

"I know, but things live and die," Yomo responded,"We can only thank him for all the great work he has done through every performance." 

Kaneki wasn't sure how long he cried, all he knew was that his head hurt, his face was warm, and that the world wasn't fair. Another piece of his family was being stripped away again! What did he do to deserve this!? What did they do to deserve this!? One moment he gently being pulled to rest against Yomo, and the next was that he was in bed with Hide and Yomo had just returned in the RV. He smelled like dirt and death. The man changed his shirt and gently laid down in the middle of Hide and Kaneki. The sofa smelled too much like death and held far too many memories at the moment that he didn't want to sleep there and he was sure both boy swould need comfort as they made it through this rough transition together. 

"Your awake..." Yomo stated as he looked over to Kaneki and gave him a soft smile, but to Kaneki it looked so painful that he began to cry again. The man quietly hushed him and rubbed his back as Hide woke to the sound of Kaneki's sorrow, soon a second wail joined the first, and Kaneki was certain Yomo's shirt would be soiled by their snot and tears by the time they were finished, which felt forever to Ken. It was a long tie when Ken looked up again through his swollen, sore eyes, he saw that Yomo, someone he considered a tough guy, was crying silently to. If he wasn't as tired and cried out as he was he would've started the water works once again, there was just something so sad when someone you thought would never cry actually starts crying. It seems like reality sets in and it just breaks your heart. With a tiny whimper Kaneki shut his eyes again, ignoring the hiccups that escaped Hide's lips as they both fell victim to the dark abyss that was sleep. 

The next few days were the worst for them, they didn't talk much, just did what they were told though Irimi took it a bit easy on them. Yomo was fully silent for the few days, he wouldn't talk to anyone but he stayed close to the two boys and slept with them in case they needed a shoulder to cry on which Hide usually used, but Kaneki sunk into his own depression. It kind of felt like that type of depression he had when his mother died. It was like reality had set back in on his own little dream world. No one lasted forever, and with the things they were doing on a daily basis, every day without a serious injury was a miracle, his family wasn't going to stay the same forever. All Kaneki could remember was sleeping a lot. Sure, he'd work with Irimi but he wasn't really motivated and one day Irimi just ended practice entirely for a day because nothing she could do could bring that spark back to Kaneki. 

Like every person who had performed before, they say the show must go on, and while Nishiki was digging around on possible leads, the show did go on. Meanwhile Yoshimura was looking around for a new tiger for Yomo to train, much to their reluctance, but they were in show business and what's a circus without an animal tamer? As days passed by in a blur, Nishiki didn't find any leads but the town paid them compensation, enough to buy another tiger, and once the show was over they traveled far away, all the way to North Carolina where someone was willing to sell a tiger cub. Their original location at the time was in Minnesota and usually when they traveled they tried to schedule show days with states that were close together location-wise so they didn't have to travel for such a long time. 

The travel time it took to North Carolina only soured the twelve-year old's mood and he became so depressed he barely had energy to leave the bed to get a drink of water and who knows the last time he took a shower. Hide on the other hand seemed to handle the loss relatively well, sure he was still sad and if you brought it up he would cry, but he had such a positive outlook. While Yomo left the boys to their own devices because he was busy driving, Hide pushed Kaneki to take a shower, then allow him to fall back into bed, before pushing him to eat something a few hours later, and then leave him alone. Hide made sure Kaneki still took care of himself somewhat in his depressed state. 

Today, however, was bad. Kaneki wouldn't stop looking at the picture frame of his mother, and no matter what Hide did he couldn't get Kaneki out of bed unless the other had to use the bathroom. Irimi was starting to have her limit reached when Hide asked her to help him try and get Kaneki to brush his hair to choke something down. Everyone had their limits and when Kaneki absolutely refused to talk, Irimi sighed in frustration and left. Hide then begged Yomo to help him. 

"Kaneki, get up. If you don't move around, all that you've worked for these couple years will be for nothing," Yomo said sternly to the smaller who simply stared at the ceiling, his gray eyes blank. Yomo gave him a few minutes, but after no sign of movement he tried again, his tone louder and sterner,"Kaneki, get up. Eat something." 

Usually by now Kaneki would've gotten up, he would've obeyed, but the whitette literally just felt nothing. He wanted to cry, to be angry and shout at them to leave him alone, to let him die, but he just couldn't. Everytime he moved a limb it felt like there was a thirty pound weight weighing them down. It felt like he was drowning... 

Hide looked up at Yomo who had an angry...no sorrowful...look in his eyes? Yomo knew full well what Kaneki was going through, Hide knew to, but if he didn't get up now and try to keep his body active he was only going to slip deeper into depression. The man, bless his heart, did the only thing he could think of doing, the only thing he would've done if it was him in Kaneki's shoes. He walked over to Kaneki, sat him up, and slapped him acrossed the face, hard enough to make his head whip to the side, but not hard enough to do any lasting damage. Just enough to hopefully knock him into his senses. The blonde gasped and half expected a fight to break out or something, but he silently watched on, wondering if he should try and drag Irimi back 

Kaneki moved his head back over to stare at Yomo, his eyes wide. 

"I know you're sad, everyone is sad and death is a very real thing for all of us, but enjoy the moments you have now with these people while they last. You'll never know when the last moment will be. Instead of moping around, keep this in mind and live your life before it gets taken from you. Don't let these moments, these days, be taken from you so easily. Without death, you wouldn't know how to live, you wouldn't feel motivated to live, you wouldn't appreciate your life as much as you do," Yomo responded,"Can you eat something, if it's not for me, then at least do it for Hide, do it for Irimi, they're all worried about you." 

Kaneki's widened eyes soon produced a glimmer, like something was lit back up inside him and as tears flowed down over his cheeks silently his murmured a soft,"Okay..." 

"Good. I'll go get you something," Yomo responded his face softening as he retreated to the kitchenette to fix a plate for Kaneki. Hide meanwhile took Yomo's place, his eyes wide,"Dude are you okay!? Did it hurt!? That sounded like it hurt! I've only ever seen him hit one person and that was Nishiki and he went flying!" 

Yomo shook his head before sighing out,"Hide knock it off, you're making me sound like a violent person." 

"Y-Yeah," Kaneki lied smoothly. To be completely honest, Kaneki didn't feel the slap at all, it just freaked him out a bit, what Yomo said is what brought Kaneki to feel....sadness...? Guilt? Happiness? He wasn't sure...but after that day Kaneki worked harder. Even harder than he ever did before to cherish every moment he had with his family, all the sad times, all the happy times, and all the times they got on his nerves. Sure the threat of having that family taken away from him again always loomed, it always depressed him, but he tried to think of other things, to keep himself busy. There were days he failed at it but Hide was always there to cheer him up and to help him up if he fell down, or to push him if he hesitated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~Note: I seriously cried while writing this T-T why do I do this to myself? Next chapter will be another time skip and we'll start to get into a little more romance between Hide and Kaneki, the focus will be shifted more to Hide's point of view as well.

**Author's Note:**

> ~ Notes: Hey, so I know I have a couple other fanfictions to finish up...but I thought, why not add another freaking fanfiction to show off how much I love Hidekane. Some of these characters are a bit OC-ish like Yomo and possibly a few others. I think Yomo is very protective over his "family" and especially to the little ones, but I also think he wouldn't exactly ask someone what's wrong. He just seems more like the type of person to stay quiet, but is able to figure out how someone is feeling to me, like Hide, except Hide is more loud and stuff. The reason why I decided to have Hide and Yomo together is because I view the guy as a father figure or older brother type and I think his personality can quiet Hide's a bit. I wanted Irimi to have a more motherly approach rather than sisterly because I think Kaneki really needs some parental figures in his life (duh) and they seemed like good candidates, Irimi also seems like a good coach to Kaneki because her figure is just so nice and graceful. Koma is supposed to be the crazy uncle (and I view him more as someone who is clownish and uplifting), Nishiki's the moody teenager at this point in the story, and I just absolutely needed Arata with his kids. More characters may be added later, and I may come back to this chapter later on and revise it more. Hide's past, as well as the others, will be added soon enough. I hope you enjoy it so far!


End file.
